Pompeo Torn On Whether State Dept Or Senate Bid Would Best Precede A 2024 Run

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 21: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers remarks to the press about the 2018 International Religious Freedom Annual Report at the State Department on June 21, 2019 in Washington, DC. Sec...WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 21: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers remarks to the press about the 2018 International Religious Freedom Annual Report at the State Department on June 21, 2019 in Washington, DC. Secretary Pompeo did not take questions from the press on religious freedom or Iran. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)MORE LESS

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) hasn’t kept quiet about his interest in Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launching a bid for the Kansas Senate seat in 2020.

“He’s still my first choice,” McConnell recently told Politico. “I doubt that the President would agree with that. But he’s my first choice.”

But Pompeo’s publicly declared that he’s “ruled out” the possibility of leaving the State Department for a sure-fire shot at the seat.

However, according to Politico, Pompeo has privately mulled the prospect of a presidential run in 2024 and might be weighing which role could best set him up for success. Senators told Politico that a Senate run would keep him politically safe outside the Trump administration. Others believe staying on as the U.S.’s top diplomat would better serve his presidential ambitions.

According to Politico, during a private dinner at the American Enterprise Institute’s yearly gathering in Georgia, Pompeo said “I have” when asked whether he’s thought about 2024, joking that he “might be running against that guy,” pointing at Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)

Nicole Lafond (@Nicole_Lafond)
is a newswriter for TPM based in New York. She has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and previously worked as an education reporter at The News-Gazette in Champaign, Illinois.